Speaking about her homeland, Brown told Wish magazine in 2010 that she misses “the moving air that you feel on your face when you're at the beach [in Sydney]. If I could borrow that and swish it around my apartment, I would. And I love a good Mint Slice," referring to an Australian chocolate biscuit. Brown said her favorite thing about New York "is that at the beginning of the week you just don't know how your week is going to end. You can never predict. You're never bored."
On September 4, 2011, with only $5,000 saved, Brown moved to New York. Brown entered the U.S. on a foreign Journalist visa and was writing for magazines outside of the U.S., sending her checks back home to Australia for her mother to deposit into her bank account.
For her first cover of InStyle, Brown used the model Emily Ratajkowski, who first came to prominence in 2013 in the video clip for Robin Thicke’s song Blurred Lines. In an interview with Australian media, Brown said, “InStyle used to be cashmere and Malibu, but now ‘celebrity’ is also Instagram Models, designers, artists, politicians. Emily is an actor and a model.”
In 2015, Brown told Yahoo Beauty that the proudest moment of her life was moving to New York, adding, "and I'm still here."[7]
In 2016, Brown collaborated with Australian handbag label Mon Purse to design a capsule collection. The three styles included in the range are The Boss Lady tote bag, The Girl On The Go bucket bag and The Minx evening sack. Of the range, Brown said, “I’m always running around NYC, jumping in and out of cars, carrying multiple things, so I needed bags to make things as easy as possible. I really need to be able to throw a bag over my shoulder, or for it to be hands free in some way.” The collaboration was timed to coincide with the brand’s launch in the US. Brown was introduced to Mon Purse founder Lana Hopkins through a mutual friend when she came back to Australia for a holiday, and after the pair clicked, a collaboration was born.
Since 2016, Brown has been in a relationship with Brandon Borror-Chappell, a stand-up Comedian and waiter. Borror-Chappell penned an article about their relationship for website Refinery29 published on January 24, 2017. In the article, which was titled ‘My Girlfriend Is Way More Successful Than I Am — & 16 Years Older,’ Borror-Chappell details how the pair met when he was working as a waiter at the Sunset Tower Hotel in Los Angeles where Brown frequently stayed as a VIP guest. One morning, Borror-Chappell’s computer malfunctioned so he hand wrote Brown’s bill and included at the bottom “a cheeky prompt for her phone number.” Brown gave him her number and said, “Text me. I dare you.” Borror-Chappell said he later sent Brown a text which read: “Hello. I have a long history of backing down from dares, so please know that texting you is taking a whole lot of pluck.” Their first date took place after Borror-Chappell flew to New York, and he has since swapped coasts to live with Brown in Manhattan.
Brown is considered a leading fashion figure on Instagram, and uses the app to promote the brand of InStyle. As of January 2018, Brown has 180,000 Instagram followers and more than 43,000 Twitter followers. Of Instagram, Brown has said, “It is the way to present yourself to the world. It is the magazine of your life.” In a video interview with NBC News in November 2017, Brown said millennials need to remember that “not everything is a social media moment, not everything is done for likes.”
Brown’s personal style is a relaxed take on glamour. “My personal style is pretty easygoing, I’d wear jeans and a sweatshirt every day, if I could. It’s mostly jeans, shirt, T-shirt and some sort of platform heel,” she told The Daily Telegraph in 2016. “On grown-up days, I wear trousers with that same sort of combo. On super grown-up days, I go the full Valentino dress.” In 2010, Brown said, “When I was about 20, I couldn't believe you needed more than one black pair of shoes. Times have changed. I discovered High Street shoe stores when I lived in London and when I came here it was all over. I happen to be a shoe-sample size.” Brown, whose bio on Instagram and Twitter reads "unnatural blonde," has her hair cut and colored at Cutler Salon in Manhattan, owned by fellow Australian Rodney Cutler. [6]
